A new report puts the price of educating the thousands of illegal immigrant children who recently crossed into the U.S. at a whopping $761 million this school year -- as some school systems push for the feds to pick up the tab. The estimate comes from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which issued a report on the 37,000 “unaccompanied minors” – who mainly are from Central America – after analyzing data from the Department of Health and Human Services and education funding formulas in all 50 states.
The numbers underscore the concerns critics have raised for months about the burden the surge is putting on local school systems and governments.
“We’re not doing American students any favors by dumping in tens of thousands of additional illegal alien children,” FAIR’s Bob Dane told Fox News.
The report breaks down the costs by state. The biggest impact reportedly will be seen in California, Texas, Florida and New York. The Empire State leads the list with a bill of more than $147 million.
Immigrant rights groups, though, say it’s a small price to pay for helping kids in need.
“We’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world,” said Jorge Baron, of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. “We should be able to handle this if we focus our energy and some resources and we make sure that kids are treated well, and treated the way we, in America, believe kids should be treated.”
Poster Comment:
Who says you can't put a price on diversity???